The Thirst of the Soul

OT: Psalm 42-72 (Book 2)
NT: John 7

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Psalm 42:1; 63:1 — As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. / My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. / When shall I come and behold the face of God? // O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; / my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Have you ever been so thirsty that you would even drink the foulest liquid on earth? I remember one hike recently on a local trail when I misjudged the distance to our exit point and my companion and I got stuck on a trail in 100-degree heat. We hiked for what felt like hours and our limited water supply ran low. Eventually, all that remained as the day heated up was a few tablespoons of warm, stale water. it was misery. But it was all we had left. Our thirst drove us mad! Eventually, we came across an old water fountain that, thankfully, still worked and we both took our sweet time gulping down the liquid as if it were more than just H2O.

The psalmists sometimes paint their desire for God like the thirst of a deer, or of a stranded hiker looking for an oasis in the midst of a desert. They really badly want to go to the Temple to seek God or hear a word from Him. They want to drink in His truth, or maybe bathe in His glorious presence like a bird splashing in a roadside puddle. So it was with us when we first came to now Jesus Christ. Part of living life outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ is the constant thirst for eternal significance and personal satisfaction. People who don't know Him are searching for something spiritual that is missing from their lives. Some people fill it with physical elements, like money or fame, but nothing material can satisfy an eternal longing. Jesus said "I AM the water of life" and that anyone who comes to Him will find the eternal identity for which they were thirsting. They will find forgiveness for their own sin, they will find life in the risen Savior, and they will find identity in the Body of Christ.

Have you come to Jesus and drunk of the eternal water He has to give? Or are you still searching for eternal significance?

Be God's.